The Altoona-Midway Middle School Lady Jets continue to play competitive volleyball for longer stages, but putting everything together for a full game continues to be a struggle.
As a result, the AMMS squad is still seeking to get over the hump and grab its first victory of the season.
The Lady Jets dropped a pair of spirited matches Monday at home, and then went on the road Tuesday and lost another hard-fought match.
The most recent setback occurred at Nellis Hall on the campus of Coffeyville Community College, as Tyro Christian School posted a 25-16, 25-15 win.
Monday at Milo Peterson Gymnasium, the Lady Jets fell 25-13, 25-22 to Edna and 25-12, 25-11 to Oswego.
“We are getting better, but we struggle to maintain consistency,” said AMMS head coach Tianne Wambsganss. “The girls are doing a better job of moving their feet and getting to the ball. However, there are still times when we fail to communicate. Overall, our serve receive has looked a lot better this week and the girls had more volleys with the opposing teams.”
Concerning Tuesday’s matches against the Lady Eagles, Wambsganss noted, “In the first set with Tyro, they took an early lead that left us trailing well behind for the entire set. In the second set, our girls were able to gain a small lead in the beginning but just couldn’t maintain momentum.”
Emily Burch fired seven good serves against Tyro, while Destiny Raymond collected four, Kaylor Lampe served three and Klaire Barlow and Kenzie Nalley and Allie Lockhart had two each.
Raymond finished with 13 serve returns to pace the squad, while Nalley and Lockhart garnered eight apiece.
Consistency was also the Lady Jets’ downfall Monday at their home triangular.
“I was pleased at how hard the girls fought against Edna,” Wambsganss said. “After losing the first set (25-13), the girls bounced back with a lot of fire and even held the lead late in the second set, but we just couldn’t pull through. We had a lot of missed serves during that match.
“Against Oswego, we had a lot of passing errors, but I was pleased to see the girls hustling to get an attempt at the ball. Oswego had really aggressive serves,” she added.
Combining the stats from both matches Monday, Burch led the Lady Jets with 10 positive serves (including three aces), while Lampe fired seven aces and had nine total serves. Lockhart contributed eight good serves (five aces) and Nalley pounded four aces and a total of seven good serves. Raymond finished with six serves (two aces) and Barlow added two positive serves.
Raymond dominated the service return stats with 18 for the triangular. Nalley notched eight, while Burch and Lockhart finished with seven each.
Altoona-Midway (0-12) gets another shot to move into the win column on Monday, Oct. 7, when they travel to Chetopa. Meadow View will also be on hand for a triangular.